The England Lowdown.

So I'm sure you've all been wondering about what's going on with my England trip since my post last week about all of my classes, so I figured I'd set aside some time today to tell you all about it!

My Shakespeare class and the trip included with it came to my attention last semester, when I was looking into options for study abroad (which is required if you're a Media Studies major) and my original plan to go to the University of Leeds in Leeds, England for this semester didn't end up working out due to financial complications. I met with Professor Griffith, the chair of the Media Studies Department, about possible options and she brought up many of the trips that were going to happen in the summer of 2014, including the trip associated with Professor Clary's "Shakespeare Perform: on Screen" class to England.

As you can imagine, I was ecstatic to hear that there was going to be a school-sponsored trip that would not only make my plans that much more concrete, but it also happened to be going to England, the country I'd wanted to go to all along! I was stoked when she told me, and I immediately set up an appointment to discuss the prospect of me joining the course (since it was already full by the time I found out about it), and after a short application process and waiting time, I was accepted!

I'm not going to lie to you all, I'm not much of a Shakespeare aficionado whatsoever. I came into this course knowing it was going to be challenging and interesting to find out more about, and boy have I not been wrong. The language associated with Shakespeare's writing coupled with the fact that I'm always searching for more information to compare and contrast to his original scripts keeps me busy just as much as a four-credit course even though it only counts for 2, but I'm hoping the skills I learn in this class will help me better observe and analyze what I see in England when the plays are live and unable to be rewound and replayed.

For the trip, we'll be traveling as a class to the Wroxton Abbey, a section of Wroxton College in Oxfordshire, and staying in an extremely lavish and beautiful castle for two weeks!

A view from outside the castle we'll be staying in - it's huge!

This is the inside of the gorgeous Guliford Library - I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time here!

This is the Above the Knot Garden on the property - it's too beautiful not to make some time to explore!

Aside from the outstanding living situation and the amazing opportunities I'll have with this trip, it gets even better - Professor Clary allowed me to extend my ticket home in order to stay for five extra days with my friend Liz at Oxford College, where she's currently studying abroad. We're going to go full tourist for this experience, and i figured since it cost me relatively nothing to extend my stay, why not?

Liz and I from last year after going to the movies - she's a beaut!

I am so thankful that this class and the trip associated with it caught my attention, and it's unbelievable how many awesome experiences I'm going to have because of it while fulfilling a variety of requirements I need to graduate! I'll definitely try to find time to post on here during and/or afterward, so look forward to some posts from abroad of my many experiences!

Well, it's time to get back to working on my presentation for that class tomorrow about Macbeth (one of my favorite plays I've read so far, I highly recommend it!)

As the English say, cheerio!